Railway car



W. E. WINE RAILWAY CAR Sept. 8, 1931.

Fld Aug. 28, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l W. E. WINE RAILWAY CAR Sept. s, 1931.

Filed Aug. 28',l 1929 Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STA WILI-.rAM E. WINE, or 'rennrad orne RAILWAY CAR Application le'd August 28, 1929. Serial. No. 389,016. y

My invention relates to railway cars and more particularly to improvements inthe lading discharge doors thereof.

@ne of the principal objects ofthe inveni tion is to provide strong and simple means vfor stiffening and reinforcing such doors.

Anotherobject of the invention is to so form the door stiffeners and to associate them with the doors that the car frame' members and appurtenances on the side of the' car will not interfere with mechanism employed for co-operating with the stiffeners to support the door in closed position.

A primary feature of the invention resides in providing the door with` a plurality of stiffening members provided with door con-A tacting flanges which converge from adja* cent the hinged edge of the door to adjacent the opposite edge thereof. Another feature of the invention consist in forming the stiffening members with portions disposed substantially normal to the door which converge toward each other from a point intermediate the edges of the door to adjacent the edge thereof remote from the hinge axis; A

Other and more specific features of the in.- vention residingin advantageous forms, combinations and' relations of parts will herein- 39 after'appear and be pointed out in the claims.` In the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention: Y l

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan View', partly in section, of agondola car showing the 5 invention associated therewith. f

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the construction illustrated in Figure 1. f

Figure 3 is a sectionalv view taken. on lin-e 3-3,' Figure 1.` j s Figure 4 isza plan view of thev door stiffener. Figure 5 is an end view of the stiffener. A Figure 6 isa sectional view taken online 66',` Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7--77 Figure 4. j v

For purposes of illustrating the invention a gondola car having pressed steel doors has 1 s been illustrated, but it will be appreciated that the invention is notli-mited in its application to cars and doors of'this type. Furs thermore, since theconstruction of the stiffeners applied to each door of the car is the same, only one door and the portion ofthe car construction immediately adjoining it has been illustrated.. i 1 'i t Referring morefparticularly to the drawingsj'l indicates one of the center sills and 2 one of the side sills-thereof', the latter being preferably lof channel shape, having upper and lower substantially horizontal flanges 3t and 41, respectively7 and an intermediate connecting web 5. 'The wooden sides 6 of the car are, as is usual', strengthened and rein, forced by side stakes 7 and diagonally extending braces 8. The floor of the car is preferably formed by a plurality of transversely extending wooden boards or planks 9 which are supported, by the cross bearers 10 of the car connected to the lower ends of the side stakes. The floor also comprises longitudi-Y nally extending boards orplanks 11 which extend between the respective planks 9 'andi overlie the center sill. It willthus be perceived that these transversely and longitudinally extending planks, together with the inwardly projecting flanges tof the side sills. define a plurality of openings through which lading within thejcar may be discharged.l

These openings `arerespectively closed by hingedly mountedl doors 12, only one of which is illustrated in the drawings. These kdoors are preferably made of sheet 'metal having downwardly projecting marginal .flanges 13. and transversely extending stiffening corru.. gations 14.-. The side marginal flanges of the'Y 'door are. preferably inclined downwardly to co-operate withcorresponding inclines 'with which the adjoining edges of the transverse planks are provided. To prevent the escape of fine lading between the hinged edge of the' v y door and adjoining portions of the longitudinally extending planks 11, pla-teslike members 15 are secured tothe latter and project into the opening to overlie 'the adjacentportion of thev door. To' prevent the escape of fine lading between the outer edge of the door and' the adjacent portion of the side sill the inwardly projecting flange 4 thereof overlaps the upper surface of the portion of the door immediately adjacent its outer edge.

Secured to the under face of the door are a plurality of stilfening members 16 which extend from a point adjacent the hinged edge of the door to a point beyond the opposite edge thereof. In order that the outer ends of the stiflening members may pass beneath the adjacent marginal flange of the door, each is preferably offset intermediate its ends as at 17. Each of the door stiffeners is provided with a top door contacting flange 18, a depending portion or web 19 disposed in a plane substantially normal to that of the door and a lower flange 20 spaced from and substantially parallel to the top flange 18. At its inner end the door contacting flange of each stilfener is formed with extensions 21 which are apertured to receive rivets 22 for attaching the stiffener at this point to the door. The top flange is also provided with other apertures 23 for receiving additional rivets 24 to further attach the stiflener to the door. At its inner end the stiifener is also preferably provided with an end wall 25 substantially normal to the door and parallel with its hinge axis. This rear wall 25 is provided, preferably integrally, with a lug 26 having an aperture for receiving a pin 27 to hingedly connect the door to a bracket 28 rigidly secured to adjoining portions of the center sill 1. j

The flanges 18 of the projecting ends of the stilfeners 16 are respectively adapted to co-operate with mechanisms 29 secured to the side sill for supporting the door in closed position. These mechanisms each comprise a pivoted hook 30 having a shoulder adapted to engage the under side of the flange 18.

VIt is desirable to secure the inner ends of the stilfeners to the door at points adjacent its side edges so that at its hinged edge `the door will be supported at points spaced a relatively great distance apart. However, it

` is necessary torbring the outer projecting ends of the stiffeners closer together so that the diagonal braces 8 and appurtenances, suchas ladders 32', will not interfere withv the mounting and free operation of the mechanisms 29 employed for'co-operating with the stiifeners to support the'door in closed position. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that it is desirable to mount the door supporting mechanisms relatively close together, as then a practically three point support is provided for the door. The advantages of supporting-.any member, such as a door, at threepoints are, of course, well known.

In order to arrange the stiffeners for each door so that their outer ends will be closer together than their inner ends, the top flanges 18 of the stideners converge from adjacent the hinged edge of the door to adjacent the opposite edge thereof. While the depending portions or webs 19 and the lower flanges 2O thereof also converge toward each other, they do not converge from adjacent the hinged edge of the door, but start to do so at points intermediate the edges of the door, preferably substantially midway therebetween. Thus, the portions of the webs 19 adjacent the hinged edge of the door are substantially parallel to each other and normal to the hinge axis of the door, but at points remote from the hinged edge they are respectively disposed in planes forming oblique angles with the hinge axis. Since the web portions start to converge from points spaced outwardly from the points where the top flanges start to converge, the latter project on opposite sides of the web between the hinged edge' of the door and the points where the webs start to converge, but only project on one side thereoffrom the latter points to the outer ends of the stiffeners. n that the lower flange 20, as it is of less width than the topflange, only project from one side of the web throughout its entire length.

Adjacent its outer Vend each of the door stiffeners may advantageously be integrally formed with an upwardly projecting flange 33 for attachment to the adjacent marginal flange of the door. `This flange is somewhat wider than the top flange 18, so that a plurality of rivets 34 may be employed to effect the connection between it and the flange of the door. At one side of the stiffener the flange 33 is preferably connected thereto by a rib or gusset 35 which is disposed substantially in the same plane as the top flange 18, while on the opposite side thereof, namely, the side adjacent the door supporting mechanism, the flange extends downwardly below thetop flange 18, merging with the web and lower flange20. Triangular shaped gussets 36 may also be conveniently provided for connecting the llange33v to the top flange 18. This flange, due to itsrigidl connection with the Ymarginal flange of the. door, adequately serves to resist the torsional moments induced inthe stiffener as a result of its engagement with the pivoted hook 30.

.As it is often difficult to" effect complete closure'of sheet metal doors of the type illustrated due to their becoming warped or distortedV on account of the severe service conditions to which they are subjected, each stiffen- It is preferred llO I claim:

l. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stiffening members secured to said door and extending from adjacent the hinged edge thereof to a point beyond the opposite edge, said members respectively having flanges disposed in a plane parallel with the door, said flanges converging toward veach other from adjacent the hinged edge of the door to adjacent the opposite edge thereof.

2. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stiflening members secured to the door, each of said members having a door contacting flange and a portion substantially normal thereto, the door contacting flanges of the members converging to ward each other from adjacent the hinged edge of the door and the normal portions of the members converging toward each other from points remote from the hinged edge of the door.

3. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stifening members secured to the door, each of said members being provided with a door contacting flange and a portion substantially normal thereto, said normal portion of each of the members terminating in a marginal flange, the door contacting flanges of the members converging toward each other from adjacent the hinged edge of the door to adjacent the opposite edge thereof.

4. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stiifening members secured to the door, said members having portions disposed substantially normal to the door, the normal portions of the members being substantially parallel from adjacent the hinged edge of the door to points intermediate the edges of the door and converging toward each other from said last named points to the opposite edges of the door, said parallel portions of the stiifeners being respectively provided with door contacting flanges projecting on opposite sides thereof and said converging portions of the stiffeners being respectively provided with door contacting flanges projecting from only one side thereof.

5. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stif'f'ening members rigidly secured to the door, said sti'ening members being respectively provided with portions disposed substantially normal to the door, said normal portions converging toward each other from points intermediate the edges of the door to adjacent the edge of the latter remote from the hinge axis, said normal portions of the stiiiener being provided with lower marginal flanges which converge therewith.

6. In a railway car having a lading discharge opening, the combination with a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stiii'ening members secured to the door, each of said stiffening members being provided with spaced flanges, one of the iianges of each of said members converging toward each other from adjacent the hinged edge of the door to adjacent the opposite edge thereof and the other of said flanges converging toward each other from points intermediate the edges of the door to adja* cent the edge of the latter remote from the hinge axis.

7. In a railway car having a ladingvdischarge opening, the` combination With a hinged door for closing said opening, of a plurality of stiifening members rigidly secured to the door, each of said members having spaced flanges connected by a web portion disposed in a plane substantially normal to the door, one of the flanges of each of the door stiEeners converging toward each other from points adjacent the hinged edge of the door to the opposite edge thereof and the other flanges of the members and the webs thereof converging toward each other from points spaced from the points of convergence of said first named flanges.

In testimony whereof IaifiX my signature.

WILLIAM E. WINE. 

